Venue: The Sabai Pavillion, Sackville Street
Date Reviewed: 1st July, 2008

Take sixteen exotic ‘Kathoey,’ the so-called third sex, add hundreds of outrageous Vegas-style costumes, shake and stir and place inside an exotic pavilion, and what do you get? A total transformation of a Manchester city centre car park, and one of the best nights out you could ever hope to have!

Full credit to creators, Carol and Phillip Gandey, for the beautiful attention to detail in the realisation of their concept. From the moment you enter the Sabai Pavilion, you’re transported to a relaxed Bangkok-style floor show environment. With first-class hospitality throughout the evening, this is a total entertainment experience.

The show itself is camp, outlandish, and saucy; yet it manages to avoid the obvious, and never strays into vulgarity. In fact, with its wall-to-wall pop classics, this is the perfect family show. It’s a well-balanced night with plenty of oomph, as high energy disco classics sit alongside more unusual choices (“Look At Me, I’m Sandra Dee” from Grease, for example), producing moments of genuine hilarity.

Full credit must go to choreographer Bandit Suriyanon and the company for the evening’s success. A Spice Girls medley act is a perfect blend of tribute/affectionate parody. Frank Sinatra’s “My Way” is unexpectedly moving, and the Britney Spears pastiche is wickedly funny. The performances are consistently slick and polished, and the show does not lose momentum once. Quite how the company negotiate the heels, feathers, glitter and lightning costume changes remains a mystery, and the evening manages to keep building, towards a superb fun-filled finale, which earned a standing ovation on the night I attended.

Any preconceptions that you might have had are swiftly swept aside by the sheer professionalism on display. My companions for the evening – male, female, gay and straight – all loved it, and it’s not hard to see why the company is celebrating its tenth anniversary.

Okay, so the “Devils & Angels” theme is fairly loose, but who cares when you’re having this much fun?

The capacity audience of office parties, married couples, families, and groups of gay men all lapped up the evening. For two hours, this fantastic show makes you forget where you are, and stepping back into city centre Manchester afterwards is like a jolt back to reality!

I cannot recommend this show highly enough. If you like high-standard cabaret, you’ll love it. If you’re up for a big party night out, you won’t be disappointed. And if you’re struggling to find something to do with friends in Manchester this Summer, you should book immediately.

The Lady Boys of Bangkok is a sophisticated, silly, funny and crowd pleasing night out. In fact, it’s more than that; it’s a complete triumph!

-Matthew Nichols

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